"Feel free to enter Master Arrowny.", the Headmaster called from his office.

The Headmaster was seated at his desk, writing in a large book.

Briarius stopped, set his pen in it's holder, and looked up at Alex.

"I was under the impression that the concept of the arcane disgusted you Master Arrowny."

The Headmaster let that thought trail a bit.

"...and of course I will be discreet if that is your wish."

"Considering your lineage, I would not be surprised."

The Headmaster thought for a moment.

"This may seem an odd question, but humor me. Do you dream of dragons?"

"Well, you have all of the classic symptoms of being a sorcerer, mayhap even more."

The Headmaster stood, turned to his books and picked one out. He flipped through the tome's pages until he came to what he was looking for.

"You see sorcerers, like myself, are not bound to study as traditional wizards. Many who wield the arcane do so at great study. I have advanced my magicks with study, but in all reality, I could simply train and meditate and the magick would come."

He set the book down in front of Alex.

"It is said that sorcerers posses the blood of true dragons. It is also said that some sorcerers are able to follow a more esoteric path which allows them to actually become draconic."

He looked up at Alex.

"You can run from your blood Master Arrowny, but eventually it will consume you unless you learn to harness and control it first."

The Headmaster thought and spoke to himself.

"A tiefling with draconic blood...fascinating."

He shook his head to clear his meandering thoughts.

"Regardless Master Arrowny, do you wish to even attempt the focus and control you need to prevent this horrifying situation from happening..."

He turned and walked to his window and spoke over his shoulder."

"...or wish you to just ignore it and let it destroy you? You are my ex-wife's grandson, I know what that entails as far as personality goes. I will not be able to force you into any choice, but I can inform you and hope that you will do what is right. Come over here Master Arrowny."

He waited for Alex to join him at the window over the courtyard where several students were. Some were hurrying to classes. Some were playing a game in the yard. Others were sitting and enjoying lunch. The crisp autumn was the backdrop.

"I have seen much Master Arrowny. Look over the courtyard here. Look at all these young people living their lives. Do you wish to force things to stay the same, or will you accept change. Change is inevitable. It was once said 'It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.' I have thousands of years of these proverbs. Do you want more?"

The Headmaster walked to his door and touched a sapphire inlaid in the frame.

"Demon Lab"

The door became a portal and the Headmaster ushered Alex through.

As Alex passed through, all of the technology on him failed all at once as did all magicks. In fact, any urges within him seemed to be suppressed a bit. The room was wood and cut stone. There were many symbols on the floor and walls. Tables were covered with bottles and jars. There were two tables with chains.

"This is where I do many of my more...dangerous experiments. You will be safe and undetectable here. In addition, nothing happens here unless I say it does."

The Headmaster took the things and placed them in the chair in front of his desk. He then re-entered and snapped his fingers. Alex would be able to feel shifting of magicks as more comfortable furniture appeared.

"You are not a prisoner, you should have nice things. Food will appear on your table as you need it. The beginning is you will sit on that round rug and meditate. Focus on yourself. See the inner workings of your spirit. Focus on that. I will return soon, but do as I say for now."

The Headmaster left and closed the portal.

With nothing to distract him, Alex was able to ignore his surroundings and focus. He thought about his mother, his brother, his grandmother Sharilis and grandfather Pyriathin, even his great grandfather Excalibur and his Woodshadow family. They were strong influences in his life even though many of them were just.. not around any more. Yet his thoughts shifted to his real father, the one he never knew, never met under circumstances that he'd remember.

Derokis Finar. There wasn't much Alex knew about him. The man was tall, had red hair and green eyes like himself, was a Knight in the Order of the Crimson Star, a guild that his parents had belonged to when they met. Derokis had been kind, gentle and considerate to Sha'uri, up until the time they were to be wed. His father never arrived for the ceremony.

Alex hated his father for abandoning his mother like that. Sha'uri had told him that it was because Derokis didn't want to influence Alex, didn't want to spread the darkness he was to him, but the boy never understood it, and neither did the grown man. He found, that as he got older, he hated his real father even more.

He also realized he was jealous of his own half brother, having a father that doted on him... something Alex never had. In fact, as time had gone on, he realized Triv would never bE a father figure to him, too busy doting on his boy.. Bryce. Blood was definitely thicker then water with that one though Triv had been considerate to Alex and had shown the attempt. It was obviously just not the same as with Bryce and probably never would be that way with Alex. He had reason to think Triv spent more time with Bryce then with his own wife. He was seriously beginning to wonder about his mother's latest, the only one she'd married... he wondered if it hadn't been another mistake.

The only ones Alex ever had as good parental figures, besides his mother or grandma, was his uncle Bazil for his first few years and then for a few years with the two androids Rock and Roll when he was a little older. Even his own mother had shied away, or maybe he shied away from her, once he turned into a young adult. It wasn't fair to blame her, though. she'd just lost yet another potential mate when he.. what's his name... Galen... abandoned her at the alter in the middle of their vows. It was when she'd ... inherited the Citadel of Mysteries..

Alex shifted uncomfortably and glanced about the room realizing he felt very ... abandoned. The emptiness gripped at him, tore at his spirit. He wanted to rip his focus from it, but it held him spellbound within the incessant vicious circles of his thoughts. He realized he wanted to torture them.

The anger within him continued to build while the nightmares slowly leaked their way into the visions of his mind........ this was not going to be a good thing and he felt himself teetering on the edge of the proverbial bottomless pit....

"Master Arrowny! That will be enough for now. Let us sit and have lunch."

He didn't hear his name and the call to lunch almost didn't register in his brain, except the scent of the food brought him around. His bright emerald hues had darkened and his pupils were a draconic shape. His skin had toughened, though the formation of scales had not yet taken place. He'd touched upon and felt for the first time his draconic side. The voice of the Headmaster brought him back from the brink of that pit, leaving him slightly breathless from the whole ordeal.

He waited until his breathing had calmed before he joined the Headmaster. By then, his eyes were back to normal. Emerald hues watched the headmaster eat while Alex merely picked at his food. The quiet one was even more quiet then he normally was. He listened, though, and realized just how much he didn't know about his uncle.

"She never said much about Alec." meaning his mother hadn't spoken of him too often. "Although that bears some resemblence to the one about Great uncle Bazil when tried to open a certain tome... something about a necronomican I believe. He told me about that one once."

He paused to pop a grape into his mouth.

"What was Larissia like?"

Alex smiled hearing Briarius talk about Larissia. He also understood what the headmaster was warning him about.

"It's why I came to you."

He half played with his food while trying to picture what Larissia and Alec looked like. He was going to ask further but thought better of it, leaving the dead in the past where the pain belonged. His thoughts briefly went to his own lost sister, the one he would never get to meet, to see, to play with, to teach and watch grow up. He thought of his grandmother then. He knew his grandmother was alive, just not here like the rest. It was confusing the way she was talked about at times... like the way the headmaster did, as if the two of them were divorced instead of separated by death.

"Wife... Ex-wife... "

Alex trailed the words letting them hang for a moment, gauging the headmaster intently with his emerald hues. He wondered about some things.

"You called her your wife on Exodii. What would you do if she came back ... here among the rest of us? What would she be to you then? What would you want her to be?"

"Hmm.."

Alex watched him a moment, wondering of his answer... it seemed, diplomatic. He sensed something else that Bri wasn't saying. A different prospective occured to him.

"I don't know how your marriage could be nullified. Perhaps ended, but not null and void. She thought you were dead. In reality, you weren't.... Wouldn't it be the other way around? Her marriage to Pyriathin would be null and void.."

Now there was a crimp that would make his mother illigitamate, his grandmother an adultress... but then again, what did he know. Alex sighed and set his fork down. He wasn't hungry, but he was feeling better with the focus off him. Unfortunately, it seemed to be at the expense of the kind one before him.

"I don't know much of these things. I've never been in love, never even had a girlfriend, let alone had a wife and children to hold or lose as the case may be. You are fortunate you've had these things. It doesn't matter how you feel about her, either way... Perhaps you should talk to her.. Ascended or not... she was your wife first. You're alive, she's alive. Nothing more need be said here. You two owe each other that much instead of running on assumptions... this is something you should do."

There, he'd said his piece. It was the only right thing to do. Now, how that conversation was going to happen, he didn't know, but he was sure one way or another it could happen.

Alex stood and moved to stand by the Headmaster, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze as if to comfort and reassure him.

"So, what's next, Headmaster?"

It was time to focus back on his dealing with this thing called magick.

Alex waited until the headmaster left before the quiet logical whisper left his lips.

"Shadow.. from shadwe, sceaduw-, sceadu and shade. Meaning: partial darkness or obscurity within a part of space from which rays from a source of light are cut off by an interposed opaque body. i.e. something is in the way because it's a reflected image, a shelter from danger or observation; an imperfect and faint representation; an imitation of something : A COPY. It's a dark figure cast upon a surface by a body intercepting the rays from a source of light .. a PHANTOM ... an attenuated form or a vestigial remnant; a small degree or portion, i.e. a TRACE. It's also a source of gloom or unhappiness; a state of ignominy or obscurity. In other words, Master Briarius.... something is there which means you're very much still alive."

Nodding, Alex turned back to his studies. In many ways, Alex felt as if a shadow except he had nothing to be a shadow by. Or had he? He pondered this while he resumed his meditations on the floor in the center of that circle.